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The Trading Game

A Confession

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The Trading Game

By: Gary Stevenson
Narrated by: Gary Stevenson
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

*NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*

An outrageous, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the trading game and then blew it all wide open


'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?

Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger.

Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The Trading Game'. The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day. Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all.

But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves.

Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything?

'An unforgettable story of greed, financial madness and moral decay' Rory Stewart

'Hilarious, shocking and deeply sad — often in the same sentence' Sunday Times

'The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass' Irvine Welsh

©2024 Gary Stevenson (P)2024 Penguin Audio

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Critic Reviews

Astonishing, enraging, extremely funny and exquisitely sad - a magnificent exposé of the 'masters of the universe' whose greed imperils us all. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (The Secret Barrister)
The Trading Game is the best finance memoir I’ve ever read. Gary Stevenson's tale of plundering Wall Street like some kind of cockney pirate is by turn hilarious and harrowing. A thrilling read that raises profound questions about who runs the global financial system. (Zeke Faux, author of Number Go Up)
All stars
Most relevant
Great yarn. The key theme of inequality and disadvantage really cut through. Some really funny moments. Thought provoking content about mental health. Wish the ending was that he married the wizard!

Good on ya, cobber!

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This is a great story. Gary gets it. Really honest and interesting. Awesome read. Highly recommend

Gold Standard "life of a trader" book

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a great book for all of us on the wrong side of the wealth divide

great listen, thank you gary

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Gary has a great story and is a great narrator, with really interesting insights into the world and life of the trading floors and the personalities of this world!

I couldn't stop. great story!

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Gary is Interesting and authentic. Would highly recommend listening to debate on diary of a ceo too

Enjoyed it good read!

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